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The Baker's Dozen, a Yale University singing group that was harassed and beaten in San
Francisco, is pictured during a 2006 retreat in Southampton, N.Y.
to all noncurricular clubs, along with other civil
rights violations. In July 2006 a federal judge issued
a permanent injunction against the schixil, requir
ing it to allow the GSA and other jchool clubs to
meet.
“Throughout the course of this lawsuit I’ve only
wanted what every parent wants—for my children
to be able to go to school in an environment that’s
safe,” said Savannah Pacer, whose daughter Kerry,
who has since graduated from high school, was the
founding president of PRIDE. Her daughter
Lindsay is also a member of the club.
Federal courts have repeatedly ruled in favor of
GSAs where schools tried to block their formation,
upholding students’ right to form the groups in Salt
Lake City; Orange County, Calif.; Franklin
Township, Ind.; Boyd County, Ky.; and Osseo, Minn.
MASSACHUSETTS
Lawmakers Advance Anti-Equality
Ballot Measure
Massachusetts legislators, in their last session of
the state’s 2006 constitutional convention Jan. 2,
approved a citizen-initiated proposed ballot meas
ure to end marriage equality for same-sex couples as
a first step toward putting the measure on the 2008
ballot.
The vote was 134 opposed and 62 in favor.
Although a significant majority of legislators voted
against the proposed measure, only 50 votes are
required to move a citizen-initiated proposal
forward. The measure must be similarly approved
in the constitutional convention in 2007 in order
to be on the ballot in 2008.
“A minority of Massachusetts legislators
approved sending to the voters a mean-spirited
constitutional amendment seeking to end marriage
equality for same-sex couples in the Bay State,” said
Matt Foreman, executive director of the National
Gay and Lesbian Task Force. “It is always wrong to
put the rights of a minority up for a popular vote,
and we are gratified that a strong majority of the
Legislature voted against doing just that.”
Since the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
ruled that the state’s constitution required that same-
sex couples be permitted to marry and those mar
riages began May 17, 2004, approximately 8,500
same-sex couples have married. Opponents of mar
riage equality have sought a statewide ballot meas
ure that would amend the constitution to prohibit
same-sex marriage. A legislator-proposed amend
ment to that effect was rejected in 2005. In 2006 a
citizen-initiated proposal to that effect came before
the Legislature sitting as a constitutional conven
tion. Citizen-initiated proposals to amend the state
constitution require approval of 25 percent of the
legislators, or 50 votes, in two consecutive constitu
tional conventions.
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8606 SE 17th Ave • Portland, Or 97202
Phone: 503-238-1903
www.dougmenely.com
DHARMA RAIN ZEN CENTER
NEW YORK
Trans Youth Compensated
A lawsuit was settled Dec. 20 on behalf of a
transgender youth who was denied appropriate
medical treatment and punished for her gender
expression in New York juvenile facilities.
Alyssa Rodríguez, now 20 years old, is a trans
gender woman who was deprived of her prescrip
tion hormone medication and punished for her
feminine hairstyle and other aspects of her gender
expression by the Office of Children and Family
Services (OCFS) while at the Red Hook
Residential Center and other New York facilities
from 2002 to 2003. She had been on hormone
therapy from a young age and experienced both
severe health consequences and emotional distress
because of withdrawal symptoms after being forced
to go without hormone treatment.
“Alyssa is thrilled that OCFS is committed to
ensuring that no other transgender youth in its care
will have to endure the suffering she did,” said
Rudy Estrada, staff attorney in Lambda Legal’s
Youth in Out-of-Home Care Project. “We look
forward to working with OCFS moving forward to
give it all the information it needs to care for the
transgender youth in its custody.”
A complaint was filed against OCFS on
Rodriguez’s behalf Jan. 11, 2006. As part of the
settlement agreement, the ageycy has agreed to
work with Lambda Legal over the next five years
to evaluate its policies about transgender youth
and to distribute information about advocacy
groups to transgender and gender-nonconforming
youth in its care. Rodriguez also received $25,000
through the settlement.
After advocacy around Rodriguez’s treatment,
OCFS designated two of its facilities where trans
gender youth will be placed and began educating its
staff on the needs of transgender youth in care. ©
Compiled by J AYMEE R.
C uti
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